Behind the Scenes
by Lucy Outlaw
Summary: These sets of stories follow those who are not running the Enterprise, but have less glamourous jobs.
1. Never I Ever, but Everyone Else Has

Rory:

There were four of us in that room. Two red shirts, a blue shirt, and then me, a gold shirt. I had given up my private room as an officer to stay with a nurse, an engineer, and a girl who cleaned the ship. Although she preferred to say she was in ship services. As the ship's Historical Officer, I knew this was the only way I would be able to see people on a regular basis.

When the four of us first met, I was greeted by a slight chill. Obviously, they though that I was doing this for all the wrong reasons, which I wasn't. Living with people was the only way I was going to talk to people on a regular basis. Usually I got caught up in expanding my already extensive historical knowledge.

I did this through watching movies, t.v shows, listening to music, and reading things from over fifty years old. Now, fifty years isn't going very far into the past, but its a basic guideline so I don't end up reading things from a year a go and trying to pass it off as work. Although I do read historical articles and dissertations from my colleges.

My roommates learned about my social awkwardness and how easily it was for me to make excuses to avoid people. Then they warmed up. The first one to give me the time of day was the nurse, Fey. She was a few inches taller than me, curvy, and long curly blonde hair. I had had to visit her a few times in the medical bay because I fall down quite a bit. Usually doing something stupid, such as forgetting that I had closed the door behind me and then walking smack into it. I thought that I had broken my nose that time, Fey was the one who looked to see if it was before calling a doctor. It wasn't.

Through Fey's acceptance, the other began to thaw too. Little Jane, the engineer, was slight and short blonde hair and short. Lynn, who worked ship services, was tall with short, light brown hair. They seemed to forget I was an officer most of the time, which I think most people forgot because I dressed in Civies most of the time. It seemed ridiculous for me to dress in that damn gold shirt and black slacks if no one was going to seem me anyways. Jeans and a t-shirt were much more practical.

We had taken to playing a stupid drinking game, whether we were drinking or not, or watching a movie every Friday night. Not that we had Saturday's off, but we did get to start later in the day, and we needed sometime to relax from the strains of being aboard the USS Enterprise. And mostly they needed the movie education to get all the obscure references I made. And drinking games were a very good way of getting to know people. We started with Never Have I Ever.

It was a Friday night, the first Friday night that everyone decided that I was okay to be around, and I was explaining Never Have i Ever. We were not drinking this particular evening, so we all held up ten fingers. I began.

"Never have I ever....." I considered what to say. It wouldn't be cool to attack everyone on the first one, so I went with something impossible. "Kissed Captain Kirk." Or so I thought, because everyone put down a finger. I looked all of them and gaped. "YOu've all kissed him?"

"Well, yeah." Fey shrugged. "He's kissed most of the women on this ship. You're kinda missing out."

"I think I'll pass."

Fey:

Rory seemed shocked that we had all kissed Captain Kirk, but I wasn't. It wasn't like we had all had a romantic relatonship with the Captain, only the lucky ones did, but he had flirted with most everyone on the ship. My kiss was late one night in the medical bay. Kirk had shown up with an injury that needed to be seen to. Nothing serious enough for , but enough for him to have come to have a nurse put a bandage on it.

I smiled and chatted with the Captain as I put the gauze down to start the clotting process and then told him he could go. Kirk thanked me and gave his million watt smile. I began walking away, but Kirk called me back. There was no saying no to Kirk, whether he be the captain or not, so I walked back over to the table.

"Kiss it better?' He pouted. I smiled and laid a kiss on the bandage that covered the cut.

"Better?" I asked. Kirk shook his head.

"It hurts here." He said and pointed to his mouth. I couldn't help the smile on my face from getting wider. Every woman aboard the ship thought about kissing Kirk a few times a day. Things got boring on the ship when we weren't warping into something stupid. That day, or night really, I had been blessed. So i did the only thing that I could, I bent over and placed a kiss on his ailing lips.

"Better?" I asked.

"Tons." Kirk said and hopped off the table. "Thanks, Nurse." He then walked out of the medical bay and back to whatever he had been doing before.

Jane:

Kirk was a player, everyone knew that. Kisses were like pennies to him, to given away without a second thought. My kiss was just like this. I had been working on something in engineering. Something slightly important. Scotty had been there too. I couldn't believe that I was working next to my hero. Scotty and I were trying to sort out the electrics short out with Kirk standing behind us, grumbling about how we werent working fast enough.

In true Scotty fashion, he became irritated with Kirk's pestering and Scotty left. This wasn't a big deal because he would be back after a nip from a flask he kept on his belt. If you asked him what was in this flask, he would tell you that it was water but everyone in ship services knew better. Kirk probably knew too, but he probably didn't care enough to discipline the best engineer pn the ship. Plus, everyone knew the rest of us would be useless without Scotty.

While Scotty was in the other room, I kept fiddling with the wiring because there wasn't much else to do. Kirk was sitting there quietly, and I didn't have much to talk to him about, so I fiddled. It gave me something to do with my hands. I wasn't paying much attention so when I connected the two wires that magically made the overhead lights come on, I was surprised. Kirk was too, but mostly he was estatic.

"YOU DID IT!" He cheered, leaping out of his chair and pumped his fist.

"I guess I did." I said, getting up off the floor. When I was on my feet, Kirk pulled me into tight, violent hug. He then planted a kiss on each cheek.

"You're amazing." He said and planted a quick kiss on my lips.

"I guess I am." I said as Scotty walked back into the room and Kirk let go of my to go hug the head engineer. Kirk then left the room, and Scotty gave me the nod of approval.

Lynn:

Ship service is not the most lucrative business, nor is it the most fashionable. I do laundry. I clean up after people. People ask why the hell I went into Star Fleet if all I was going to do was clean, but I think it was worth it to get into space. It's amazing up here. And cleaning isn't that bad.

I kissed Kirk while doing laundry. We were going back to home port when he came rushing into the room with his formal cadet uniform in hand looking a little frantic.

"Can I help you?" I asked, because normal people dont venture down here too often.

"I need this washed. Now." He said frantically. "I have to wear it when I go in front of those old bastards."

I chucked and took the uniform from him. "No problem. I'll take it up to you when it's done." I said and threw the uniform into a pile of other red shirts and then the pile into washing machine.

"You're a saint." Kirk said. "When do you think it'll be done?"

"An hour or so." I shrugged. "Before we get on the shuttle to San Fran."

I spent the next hour sitting on top of the washer containing Kirk's cloths waiting for them to be clean. And then I waited for them to be dry. There was a lot of waiting involved, and I was getting sick of it. Finally, they were done, and I pressed them. Not because I had to, but because I was just that awesome. Besides, Kirk should look good for them officially making him captain of the ship.

After I had folded them, I went over to the computer and asked it to locate Kirk. He was in his room, so that's where I went. We had about thirty minutes before we made our final docking, so I wasn't surprised that Kirk was in his room. He was probably freaking out that I hadn't brought him his uniform yet.

Trying not to walk at my usual lazy pace, I walked at a good clip to the captain's quarters. Ringing the bell to the right of his door, I waited anxiously. All of the crew had spent some time thinking about what could happen behind those doors, and all the women on this ship spent a lot of time wishing that they could spend time behind those doors too.

Suddenly, the doors snapped open and Kirk was standing in the frame. He looked at me for a moment with a look of confusion in his eyes. He didn't know who I was for a moment. Then he looked at his uniform which I was holding in my arms in front of me. Then he looked excited and the happiest I have ever seen someone over laundry.

Suddenly, Kirk leaned over and placed a kiss on my mouth. "You are an angel." He said and then stepped back into his quarters, closed the doors, and changed. Well, I assume he changed because that was the whole point of him needing his uniform clean.

Rory:

The game of Never Have I Ever, ending pretty quickly with Fey losing, but me coming a close second. I'm pretty stupid and or careless. Like the time I decided it was a good idea to try and learn how to stand up on the seat of my motorcycle while going 60 miles per hour. Not my most outstanding moment, but I figured that anything I could walk away from was a success.


	2. We're Kinda Like a Cult

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. If I did I would not be here. I'd be making money off movies and TV shows. And other various merchandise.

A quick note: I will be participating in NANOWRIMO this November, so I will not be writing any more of these stories. However, if you like my writing I will be posting my NANO novel on fictionpress at .com/u/694667/. I will however, post what I have if I have time. Also, comments and ratings are always appreciated, so tell me what you think. Thanks

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RORY:

The day after that, well, evening really if you're going by the clock because it's always fucking dark out in space, was the first time I had really met Captain Kirk. I was sitting at a small table in the back of the mess, reading an article on the Vietnam riots my da had sent me and listening to music through my headphones when someone sat across from me. Being as dense as I am, I didn't even notice until they tapped the space in front of me. Startled, I looked up and slid my headphones off. It was Captain Kirk, who I recognized from the news broadcasts about them saving the planet a few years ago, which was before I joined the crew.

"I didn't know we had a civilian on board." He said, smiling at me.

"I'm not." I said, still reading the article in front of me. "I'm the Historical officer."

"You're in Civvies." He said, looking down at the black t-shirt and jeans I had on.

"It appears so." I couldn't really listen to him, even though I knew I should, because I was so interested in what was in front of me. I tended to get consumed in my work.

"I have a feeling that you're ignoring me." Kirk said as I finished the article.

"Not ignoring, just paying you half a mind." I said scribbling a note back to my father with my stylist on my data pad and sending it away. "I was reading."

"What, pray tell, is more important than your captain?" Kirk was still smiling, and his voice was light so I knew he was joking.

"An article on the Vietnam riots." I said scribbling another note to my sister. She had written me an e-mail yesterday that I hadn't gotten back to because there wasn't much to write. I never did anything that was really worth writing home about, but if I didn't respond promptly, I got several very angry e-mails.

"Which are?" Kirk prompted. I looked up from my sister's letter at him.

"Look it up." I told him as Fey walked up the the table and sat down.

FEY:

Kirk was sitting across from Rory in the mess, smiling. He was obviously trying to charm her, but Rory was leaning over her data pad not giving Kirk the time of day. He was obviously trying his best to engage her in conversation, even asking about some historical event that he probably cared nothing about just to get her to talk to him. Poor Kirk. Having kissed every woman who was not in a relationship aboard had been a point of personal pride for him. And now he was having to deal with the obstinate, unsociable Rory.

He still didn't give up though. Instead he leaned forward and asked her about whatever she was reading again. Honestly acting as if he cared I took this as my cue to step in and save the poor man from himself. He was going to get no where like this.

"Hey, Rory." I smiled at her as I sat down. "Captain Kirk." I smiled at him next.

"Hello, Fey." Rory said, more than willing to socially interact with me. I frowned at her a bit. What the hell was this girl thinking? The Captain was being perfectly nice, and she needed to socialize more anyways. Wasn't that the reason she had moved from her private quarters in the first place?

I looked onto her data pad to see what she was writing. It was a letter to her sister, Lorelei, telling what was up on the Starship Enterprise. Not much was written. The last sentence that she had scrawled across the screen was "At the moment my captain is hitting on me." I laughed and asked her how Lorelei was doing.

"She's well." She shrugged. "Aiden asked her to marry him."

Kirk sat on his side of the table for a few minutes before he awkwardly got up, made some excuse about having to be on the bridge, and left. Rory barely seemed to notice.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked her in a harsh whisper.

"What do you mean?" She asked, seeming to really not know what she had done wrong.

"Kirk was hitting on you and you just ignored him."

"So?" She shrugged. "I'm not interested."

"How can you not be interested?!" I said at a level that might have been a little too loud because several other people in the room looked over at me. "He's hot."

"Not my type." Rory shrugged again.

RORY:

Fey gaped at me as I told her that Kirk wasn't my type. This was not because I didn't find him attractive, I did. This was more so because I was not interested in flirts. It just wasn't a characteristic I found appealing, mostly because I didn't like to share. Anything. The curse of growing up in a large family.

That and I was not going to some sort of game to this man. I'm not blind, he just wants to maintain his record. Men and their stupid egos.

Eventually, Fey dropped the whole thing. I was more than happy not to have to talk about it, but the month my three room mates had bothered me with it was a little irritating. I had to keep up the mantra that I had asked for this. I had wanted to be around people, and being around people meant being irritated sometimes.

JANE:

It is a rule in engineering that you always utmost respect to Scottie. He is a god among Red Shirts. I have even heard that one guy was even making a golden idol of Scottie, which might be going a little far. We Red Shirts do worship Scottie like the Gold Shirts worshiped Kirk. Like the blue Shirts worshiped Spock, when they weren't making jokes about him being an emotionless bastard. Like Rory worships actors that no one has ever heard of.

The rules for being a Red Shirt is as follows:

1) When Scottie is walking down the hall, make way and avert your eyes

2) When speaking to Scottie, he shall always be referred to as "sir".

3) Scottie shall be asked before any changes are made to the ship, even if requested by the captain.

Kirk may have be captain, but Scottie has the adoration of every Red Shirt. If he wanted, Scottie could start a rebellion. Sometimes, when I'm really angry, I day dream about Scottie leading a revolt and the Red Shirts taking over the ship. It's never going to happen, but when you're mad these sort of things help.


	3. Seeing is Not Believing

I felt bad about not updating. So this is it. Any suggestions about what shenanigans Rory an the crew should get into will be considered. Reviews are very appreciated. Sorry it's short, but I'm working on my NANO Novel. Thanks.

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FEY:

Rory told me that she has been asked one question since she has come to the United States. I guessed it was "Can I see some ID?" but Rory just glared at me when I said it out loud. It also wasn't "are you single".

Eventually I stopped guessing and asked what this question was.

"What part of England I'm from." Rory told me. Something in her voice told me that this was not a good question.

"You have an accent." I pointed out.

"It is _not_ English." Rory said. Truth be told, this was news to me. I knew she had lived in Europe when she was little, but I wasn't really sure where.

"Where are you from then?" I asked because it was the natural question to ask.

"Dublin." She looked at me.

"Ireland?" I never had really considered it, but now that I thought about it, it was kind of obvious. Rory was red headed, grey eyed, and often spoke in a language not even Uhura could identify.

"Yes." Rory said and then laughed. "I can tell that you now understand why this is a stupid question."

"It's kinda obvious now that I think about it." I laughed back.

RORY:

Dating is never something I have ever been good at. The only men I tend to like are dead. Fey, for some reason, had a problem with this and insisted on setting me up, and by insisted I mean forced.

I wasn't going to go, but then Fey said it was this, or she'd go get Kirk. Suddenly, a blind date didn't seem too bad.

It was Saturday night and I had agreed to meet Dave for dinner. At least things couldn't get too awkward when you had a reason not to talk. Too bad the mess was creepy at ten o'clock at night, and when I first walked in, I thought I was alone. Then I spotted Dave over in the corner at a candle lit table.

It was right then I wanted to run. He was taking this serious, unlike me who had just chosen the lesser of two evils.

"Hi, Dave." I said as I approached the table. "I'm Rory."

"Hi,Rory." Dave smiled and stood up. A true gentleman. "It's nice to meet you."

We started making small talk, which wasn't too bad. THe date was going OK until about a half hour into the it, when dave tried to feed me.

"How old do you think I am?" I asked Dave, slightly pissed off.

"Um..." Dave wasn't sure what to say.

"Because I am sure as hell not five, and I do not need you to feed me." I then stormed away from the table.

Two weeks later, Few had set me up with another guy. I was not happy but the threat of having to spend time with Kirk still hung in the air and I wasn't particularly welcoming of it.

I walked into the Rec. Room to see Greg sitting at a poker table with card fanned out in front of him.

"Strip poker anyone?" He smiled.

I didn't respond, only turned on my heal and left. Greg was a creep and no amount of threats could make me stay.

It was three weeks and five e-mails from Greg when Fey informed me of another blind date. She swore it would be the last one if I stayed out until two. i agreed, ready to be down with blind dating.

I walked into the mess only to turn and leave again. Kirk was sitting in the corner. I was almost out when I heard him call after me.

Groaning, I turned around and walked over. Fey had promised I wouldn't have to speak to him.

"Hello, Rory." Kirk smiled.

"Hello." I said, standing at the opposite side of the table.

"Please, sit." Kirk motioned to the other chair.

"I should be going." I motioned to the door.

"You weren't meeting anyone?"

"No." I said.

"Not according to Ensign Lee." Kirk smiled. "But I'm highjacking your date."

I sighed and sat down, then pulled a PADD out of my bag. I had been secretly hoping I would stood up. I pulled up the latest book I was reading and started to pretend I was alone. Kirk quietly ate the food in front of him.

I had almost forgotten Kirk was there when he spoke. 'I feel like I haven't seen you around much."

I looked up at him, a little startled. "That's because I've been avoiding you." As soon as the words left my mouth, Kirk began to chuckle. It took me a moment to realize that he thought I was joking. "I'm quite serious." Then the chuckling stopped.

"Really?" Kirk asked and I nodded. "Why?"

"I don't appreciate the flirting." I said and looked down to my book.

Kirk sat in silence for a moment. "Oh." He said in atone that suggested that he had never considered it before. "Whadda ya reading?" He leaned in as if to read the text upside down.

"René DesCartes' Meditations." I said, flipping my PADD around so Kirk didn't have to read upside down.

""Cogito, ergo sum." Kirk recited. "Into to Philosophy. It's required."

"So you can consider your own mortality." I nodded.

"Why are you reading this?"

"My brother sent it to me. He's getting his doctorate in philosophy."

"Why?"

"To do the only thing you can do with any degree in philosophy, teach philosophy."

Kirk an I continued to make small talk until i realized it was 2:05 and I could safely go back without Fey setting up again. "Well, look at the time." I said as I got up and put my PADD back into my bag. "Time for bed." I elaborated and walked away.


	4. Not exactly what I had in mind

A/N: Okay, so It's been a while, but I am back now and this project has not been abandoned. I don't have many ideas for it right now, so I might be a little slow on getting out chapters. I think the next few will be how various characters came to the decision to join Starfleet. I don't have the next chapter written, so if you have a particular character that you're interested in, let me know.

* * *

**Fey:**

I went to nursing school to learn how to help people. When I started, I really thought that that was what it was going to e about, but once I graduated I realized that it was all about politics.

After graduation, I went to apply at different hospitals, but none of the hospitals were hiring. Most of the time, hospitals are always hiring more nurses, but I possibly have the shittiest timing in the world. I graduated in three years instead of four, but I also graduated in the middle of the biggest nursing strike ever. And hospitals don't hire outside of the nursing union. And the nursing union was not accepting any new memberships.

If i had had the money, I would have gone back to school. But money had been tight since I had graduated and moved out of the dorms and started to pay off my student loads. Rent plus student loan payments, plus the minimum wage jobs that I was working equals one very broke nurse.

It started out as a desperate act to find work as a nurse, and I originally planned to drop out after the strike ended. Starfleet was not where I wanted to be. Patching up stupid people after they went into space and did stupid things was not my idea of helping people, but Starfleet always needed nurses and they paid the medical staffs tuition.

Joining Starfleet meant another four years of school. Xeno-biology, xeno-chemesty, and other xeno classes were necessary for working aboard a star ship. Not that I ever wanted to work aboard a star ship, but the distress call from Vulcan changed all of that. All cadets were assigned to ships, and I was assigned to the Enterprise.

During the whole thing, I didn't even think about leaving Starfleet. With everything that was going on, I didn't really have time to think about it.

When it was all over, I decided that Starfleet was not such a bad place. It really did matter, and it really did help people and save lives. Apparently, all of the Starfleet cadets that I had met were outliers. Not everyone here was a pompous ass.


	5. Green Blooded

So, since it is my birthday today I figured I would post something. It is short. Very short. Don't hate me. I thought it was funny. Maybe not so much to others, but let me know.

**Lynn:**

Rory and I were doing laundry. I know I'm not supposed to bring anyone down here because it's against regulations, but if I don't bring anyone it gets really boring. Eventually, I will snap and kill someone out of boredom, but for now I'm watching Rory dance like an idiot.

With a playlist of classic rock in hand, Rory and I went to one of the emptiest parts of the ship; the laundry room. As we sorted the laundry, Rory and I dance and sang along with the songs that were set to shuffle.

After a rousing rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'" the song "Hot Blooded" cam one.

The singing, albeit a bit off key, was pretty good, but I noticed that Rory was changing some of the lyrics in the chorus. I stopped singing so that I could hear the word changes.

"Well, I'm green blooded." Rory sang. "It's easy to see. Gotta fever of 103. 'Cause I'm green blooded. Green blooded."

All I could do was laugh and join in. Hopefully Spock would not have anyone monitoring laundry as we made fun of the hobgoblin.


	6. Lynn

I'm going to try and update once a week and make the chapters at least 500 words long.

* * *

**Lynn:**

It was never my dream to end up as a glorified maid to hundreds of people. Who dreams of that? What I had wanted since I was a little girl was to be an astronomer. Unfortunately, dreams aren't currency. Mom and Dad couldn't afford to send me to the schools that I would need to go to do anything important. Getting the acceptance letters and knowing that I couldn't afford to go to the schools broke my heart.

Sure, I was awarded scholarships, but none of them were big enough to make a difference. My parents helped all that they could, but it still wasn't enough. I had worked at a local restaurant all four years of high school, and even putting that toward my education there was no way to even pay the first semester's tuition.

As I applied left and right for scholarships and begged for extra hours at work, a letter came in the mail. It was a simple affair and the wording was to the point. "Starfleet will put you among the stars." As I read it, my breath caught. This was an option I had never considered.

I applied for their astronomy program before I even talked to my parents about it. What was the worse that could happen? I had to turn them down? Also, Starfleet was famous for giving out the greatest scholarships to its cadets. Hopefully my high school career would get me where I wanted to be.

My parents were less than impressed at my having applied to Starfleet. Mom was worried that I was going to get myself killed. My little brother was angry that I was going to join Starfleet. He insisted that he had wanted to Starfleet for years now and I was stealing his dream. I stuck my tongue out at him and looked over to Dad. He hadn't said anything so far, which made me nervous. What if he told me this was the stupidest thing that I had ever done?

Dad wasn't mad though. He was actually proud. "Starfleet," He said. "is important." And that ended the conversation. Even though Mom wasn't happy about it, but there wasn't anything more to say.

It was weeks before Starfleet got back to me with my application. My entire family gathered around me as I opened it. We were all nervous that I had not gotten in, or I did get the scholarship that I needed. I clicked the letter open and read the first line.

"Lynnette Tammor, Starfleet Academy writes to inform you that all of the places in our Astronomy program have been filled. You are welcome to apply again next year, as your record shows that you would go far. You are also welcome to apply one of our other programs or submit a general application."

I had to read the letter several times to make sure I truly understood what they were saying. It was a rejection letter. Over the past weeks I had convinced myself that Starfleet was going to take me, and pay for it too. Now I had to decide if I was going to wait a year and apply again, or if I was just going to submit a general application.

A year seemed like a long time to wait to go to school, so I filled out the general application to Starfleet and sent it off. I could always change my focus later on, and maybe one of the Astronomy students would drop out.

This time, it didn't take Starfleet so long to get back to me. The letter came in a few days and I opened it alone. It was an acceptance letter and I responded to it saying that I was going to attend. If I couldn't be an astronomer, at least I could get close to the stars.


	7. Jane

A/N: Let's pretend this isn't late. Let's also pretend that it's longer.

Jane:

It had been apparent since I was little that I was going to be an engineer. I like to take things apart and put them back together again. When most girls my age were playing with dolls, I was playing with building blocks and trying to figure out just how a circuit board worked. My poor toys did not often make it much past being taken out of the box before they were operated on.

For Christmas, I was often given tool sets and toys that were cheap enough that it didn't matter if I could successfully put them back together again. My sister received dolls and beauty products that she usually tried to use on me. My older brother received toy guns.

In high school, my obsession just got worse. I was the president of the robotics club. I was part of the tech crew for all of the school productions just so I could use their equipment. I was treasurer of the school's engineering club. There was no question about where my life was going.

Senior year, when everyone was applying to college I sent only one application to Starfleet. If I wasn't accepted this year, I would take a year off and apply again next year. There was no sense in settling for second best in my world, and Starfleet was the place to go if you wanted to be an engineer. They were cutting edge and most of their graduates went on to work on starships, and a few went to work in the colonies.

While most people got their acceptance letters, I waited for mine. Stafleet's application date was latter than most colleges' because they often had people apply after they had been rejected from their first choice of college. Months after most of my classmates had decided where they were going, I finally got my letter Starfleet.

It was an acceptance letter. They had taken me into their engineering program. That was one of the best days of my life. Probably only second to the day that I was assigned to the USS Enterprise.


	8. Fey

A/N: Okay, so It's been a while, but I am back now and this project has not been abandoned. I don't have many ideas for it right now, so I might be a little slow on getting out chapters. I think the next few will be how various characters came to the decision to join Starfleet. I don't have the next chapter written, so if you have a particular character that you're interested in, let me know.

* * *

**Fey:**

I went to nursing school to learn how to help people. When I started, I really thought that that was what it was going to e about, but once I graduated I realized that it was all about politics.

After graduation, I went to apply at different hospitals, but none of the hospitals were hiring. Most of the time, hospitals are always hiring more nurses, but I possibly have the shittiest timing in the world. I graduated in three years instead of four, but I also graduated in the middle of the biggest nursing strike ever. And hospitals don't hire outside of the nursing union. And the nursing union was not accepting any new memberships.

If i had had the money, I would have gone back to school. But money had been tight since I had graduated and moved out of the dorms and started to pay off my student loads. Rent plus student loan payments, plus the minimum wage jobs that I was working equals one very broke nurse.

It started out as a desperate act to find work as a nurse, and I originally planned to drop out after the strike ended. Starfleet was not where I wanted to be. Patching up stupid people after they went into space and did stupid things was not my idea of helping people, but Starfleet always needed nurses and they paid the medical staffs tuition.

Joining Starfleet meant another four years of school. Xeno-biology, xeno-chemesty, and other xeno classes were necessary for working aboard a star ship. Not that I ever wanted to work aboard a star ship, but the distress call from Vulcan changed all of that. All cadets were assigned to ships, and I was assigned to the Enterprise.

During the whole thing, I didn't even think about leaving Starfleet. With everything that was going on, I didn't really have time to think about it.

When it was all over, I decided that Starfleet was not such a bad place. It really did matter, and it really did help people and save lives. Apparently, all of the Starfleet cadets that I had met were outliers. Not everyone here was a pompous ass.


	9. Rory

A/N: This story has not been abandoned. I just....fell off the planet and have been working on some character studies. And homework. To wrap up the author note that no one reads: Thanks for the reviews (all two of them). I read them and decided that since they were so positive, and one even said "I've been reading this religiously", that it was time for another chapter. So! On with the show!

Rory:

I was looking at two different letters, hoping that if I stared at them long enough that the answer I was looking for would jump out at me. It did not. Even though I stared until I had to go defend my dissertation.

After defending my dissertation, I looked at the letters some more and re-read them. One was from Princeton, inviting me to take a position there as a teacher after I received my PhD. It was a really good offer, and I liked being at Princeton, even if I was younger than most of my peers. Even though I would be younger than some of the students that I would teach if I took the job.

The other letter was from Starfleet. They were inviting me to join. They promised that after graduating from the academy, I would be assigned to a constitution class star ship. Starfleet was offering me more money, and a chance to do research, but it would mean more school. All I had done so far was study. Every trip I had ever gone on was to go visit family back in Ireland or do go do school work. Starfleet would be something different.

Starfleet was adventure and exploration. Princeton was the same thing I had been doing all through graduate school, and it depended on me actually getting my PhD. Of course, they might still take me if I don't get it.

In the end, after many hours thinking about it and talking to my family about it, I picked Starfleet. There was always time for teaching after you had gone out and done something. It wasn't like I was signing my life over to Starfleet. Just five years. In five years, if I didn't like where I was I could rethink my life.

The two years at the academy were boring. Most of my classes were survival and combat training because I had already finished all of my academics. There were a few classes of Vulcan history and Klingon history that I took, but they weren't much different than the classes I had already taken.

When I got an e-mail with the official Starfleet letterhead at the top, my heart started to beat double time. Command told me that I was to meet them in the conference room in two hours.

Everyone was in the conference room when I got there, even though I was five minutes early. When I walked into the room, they informed me that they had a position for me, but they were waiting for the captain of said star ship to show up.

It took ten minutes for Captain Kirk to show up in the conference room, and when he did he had his casual uniform on. Command did not look impressed.

I was assigned to the USS Enterprise because their historical officer had been lost in space. It was implied that she hadn't died, only marooned somewhere. I didn't ask many question because I was excited to finally get into space and stop being in school.

A/N: One last little note before I go. I don't like this chapter, but I figured I would update. The next chapter will be.....entertaining at least. I'm not sure what I'm going to write about just yet, but I'll try to make it funny. Notes and reviews are always appreciated.


	10. iTunes

A/N: Sorry this has taken forever. I don't really have many ideas for this, and I've been working on other stuff and blah blah blah. Any ideas anyone had, would be fantastic! Please, I beg you. I would update more if I had entertaining ideas. So let me know what you think goes on behind the scenes on the USS Enterprise.

This is one of those "put your iTunes on shuffle things. Enjoy.

Only for Him-Love Never Dies

Jane:

I worked for hours running simulations on the calibrations. I wanted them perfect, or as close as possible. Scotty was the one that I had to impress. My uniform had been ironed, even though my roommates had laughed, and I made sure that my boots had been shined. This had been done in private. No one else got the Scotty was an engineering God and the only one worth impressing.

I took the report and went to Scotty's office, straightening my shirt one last time before knocking. He called for me to come in, and looked a little surprised to see me. "Um, I have the reports you asked for." I held out my PADD. He took it and looked them over.

"You could have just sent them." He told me.

"I wanted to know what you thought. I worked really hard on them."

"You always work hard." He reassured me. "And they look good. Almost like I did them my self."

I beamed. There was no greater compliment I could have ever received. "I'll get started on making the adjustments right away then, Sir."

I'm a Rover (Great Big Sea)

Rory:

One of the things I miss from home the most is the parties. Everyone together, laughing and drinking, and when everyone is drunk enough, dancing. I'm not great at it, but it's fun. My family still knows the old dances. Reels and stuff.

Live music, in a bar or someone just playing guitar and singing in the corner, makes it better. They change the words around to make it fit the situation. The sing folk music that makes everyone feel like family. Someone asks me to dance, and I take their hands going out to the floor, or wherever we've made space, and listening to the singer count down.

We take each others' hands and move with the music. I learned when I was little, so the steps feel natural by now, but not all of my partners are as light on their feet. Being drunk doesn't help. They stumble, and sometimes I'm no better. But other times we're both perfect.

Spinning is the best. Faster and faster until the room blurs and it feels like there's nothing else but trying not to fall. Sometimes I have to rush to the bathroom, and sometimes I just get to enjoy the feeling of being dizzy.

Strangers in the Night (Frank Sinatra)

Kirk:

I was on shore leave and in a bar. There was a girl sitting at a table a few feet away, who kept glancing over at me. I would smile, she would look down at her table, and we would repeat the flirtation.

When she was done with the drink she had in front of her, I brought her another one. Smiling and sitting down, I knew she wouldn't tell me 'no'. I wouldn't have bothered with anyone who would tell me no.

One drink turned to four and us going back to her apartment. Clothes came off as we made our way to the bedroom. She spoke as I nibbled at her neck.

"I can't wait to tell everyone I slept with James T. Kirk." She smiled.

I waited a bit, and then pretended to catch the time out of the corner of my eye. "Is that the time?" I said as I jumped off the bed and picked up my pants. "I have to get back to the ship."

"It's not like they can leave without you." She huffs, disappointed at losing out on her chance to sleep with the handsome, but more importantly famous Star Fleet captain.

"But Command does frown on me being late to finish one night stands." I smile. "And they can make my life hell, so I have to go."

As much as I had wanted to sleep with this woman, I wanted to be just as faceless to her as she was to me. And really, I didn't want to be used anymore than the next person.

A/N: It's short, but it's something. And look! I wrote from one of the cannon characters! Which is probably OOC, but we'll all live long and happy lives. Maybe another one of these tomorrow.


	11. iTunes 2

A/N: Just songs that I felt fit certain characters. Know what would make my day? REVIEWS! The next one will actually be some sort of story.

**Scolding Wife (Great Big Sea)**

McCoy:

My ex is bitch. I swear to God, that she had to be some sort of demon sent from hell to torture me. I would have traded her to anyone who was willing to take her for bottle of whisky. What's worse is that, that demon of a woman gave birth to the most perfect thing I have ever seen. My daughter.

At the end, when I had started spending more time in bars than at home, she would come and look for me. And when she found me, she would grab me by the scruff of the neck, or an ear, and drag me home. Yelling at anyone who even looked at her. And when we got home, she would spend hours yelling at me, often waking up Joanna.

I'd rather hang myself than get married again.

**What Sarah Said (Death Cab for Cutie)**

Fey:

The worst part about this job is when you lose someone. Regardless of whether you could have saved them or not, your heart breaks because you know that someone out there just lost a person that they cared about. And you know that most people on the ship just lost a friend.

It was part of the job, and you had to move pretty quickly because there was always someone else who needed your help. Someone else who needed to be stitched up or saved, but there were times that I sat quietly in a corner and cried. Not that I would ever admit that to someone else, because it was stupid, but it relieved stress better than anything else.

My friend Sarah told me in nursing school, that the best way to deal with it was to pretend that they weren't human. That what you were operating on was just another cadaver and there was nothing at stake. This only worked while the patient was on the table, because when you're calling time of death, or putting the tag on their toe, the illusion is gone, and the heartbreak sets in. Someone has to go find their loved ones and tell them that you watched this person die and there was nothing anybody could do. And you have to do all of this in a professional manor, because damn it, we are Star Fleet, and there are people out there who need our help.

**Mother Dear (The Divine Comedy) **

Spock:

It is illogical, but I have never been able to deceive my mother in any way. Though lying is not something that Vulcans practice, but they do not always practice full disclosure either. Still, if my mother asked me a question, as much as I might have preferred to leave out certain details, she got nothing but full disclosure.

Later, people would inform me that this was because my mother was the only person that had ever accepted both sides of me, without asking me to change. I think that these people may be on to something.

**Delirium (Motion City Soundtrack)**

Lynn:

There were days I thought I would rather hang myself than report for shift. No matter what I had done the day before, how clean the rec rooms and bathrooms had been, they were once again a mess. Food wrappers litter the floor, drink containers collected on the corners of tables. Things got messy.

One of the cleaning crew had a mental break down last month. We had found him scrubbing the same part of the floor that he had been working on when we had left twenty minutes ago. He insisted that it wasn't clean enough, and that the bugs kept getting it dirty. Trust me, there are no bugs on this ship.

The poor guy was put on some pretty heavy pharmaceuticals, which seemed to do the trick, and then sent to Happy Fields, the house for crazy Star Fleet veterans. It was the risk you took when you signed up to clean up after hundreds of people, and all of us now looked at each other when we reported for duty and tried to guess which one of us was going to be the next to go off the deep end and end up taking anti-psychotics like we were eating M&Ms.


End file.
